casualty Hear it!

casualty definition

casu·alty (kaz̸h′o̵̅o̅ əl tē)

noun pl. casualties -·ties

  1. an accident, esp. a fatal one
  2. Mil.
    1. a member of the armed forces who is lost to active service through being killed, wounded, captured, interned, sick, or missing
    2. losses of personnel resulting from death, injury, etc.
  3. anyone hurt or killed in an accident
  4. anything lost, destroyed, or made useless by some unfortunate or unforeseen happening

Etymology: ME & OFr casuelte < ML casualitas: see casual

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.
Related Discussions (2)
TopicRepliesLatest Post
Casualty63 weeks ago
Victim and casualty125 years ago

Browse Forums